Topics

[here]

The House of Murky Depths is about to publish Richard Calder's cult novel as a re-imagined graphic novel. And yes, they're calling it a graphic novel so it's not confused with the original (no apologies to those who hate the term). Filipino mangaka Leonardo M Giron pencils, inks, colours and letters the whole thing (you can see him drawing heroine Primavera here) with science fiction cover legend Jim Burns supplies the wraparound illustration for the collection cover (originally an eight-comic series).

Those in the know will be aware the original comic series appeared in Murky Depths, the award-winning anthology magazine, before it closed back in 2012.

Story: Richard Calder. Internal pencils, inks, colours and letters: Leonardo M Giron. Publisher: The House of Murky Depths.

Dead Girls #7 (the cover on the right) has just launched and the final issue in the 8-comic series will be mailed to subscribers at the beginning of February 2014, with cover art by the legendary Jim Burns. See a list of guest cover artists here, where comics can also be purchased.

My latest blog about the project can be read here. If you like what you see and read we'd be extremely pleased if you would Tweet, FB or use whatever social media you prefer to spread the word.

Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules here but, I'd heard Matt Wallace's podcast series of his The Failed Cities and thought I'd love The House of Murky Depths to publish that as a novel (not graphic). Guess what? He only contacted me and asked if we would! Synchronicity? Now it's available from http://murkydepths.com/fc.php as a 150-copies limited edition (signed and numbered by Matt) hardback.

If you pre-ordered you could also get a free Illustrated Companion featuring seven artists' interpretation of the eight characters. The artists included 2000AD cover artist Neil Roberts; Kev Level, who I'm sure is also familiar to 2000AD fans, Murky Depths illustrator and artist on Lavie Tidhar's graphic novelette Adolf Hitler's I Dream of Ants, Neil Struthers; Macaruba (aka Jason Smith); Huy Truong, writer and illustrator of the Pwanda children's books; freelance illustrator Donna Evans; and Stateside comic book artists Jason Flowers. We might be willing to sell the remainder for a paltry £2 ($3) if anyone is interested.

If you like your future fantasy (I guess you could label it sci-fi) with a hint of cyberpunk, and you like your stories to be gritty and violent (at least in places) then this is your book.

You may have listened to the amazing The Failed Cities monologues on Variant Frequencies (still available at Podiobooks) and very soon you'll be able to buy a limited edition hardback of the complete novel. Pre-orders have just started and with only 150 signed and numbered copies we're expecting to be sold our prior to shipping at the end of April.

No, it's not a graphic novel but if you order now you'll also receive a free eight-page booklet featuring artwork from some of the artists that we used on Murky Depths. You'll all be familiar with Neil Roberts, no doubt, from his 2000AD covers, and Kev Levell. We commissioned them to give us their interpretation of the eight main characters in the novel.

http://www.murkydepths.com/fc.php

Richard Calder's cult 1992 novel started it's comic re-imaging in Murky Depths. Now it has become a full-colour 8-comic series with completely new colouring from original Filipino mangaka Leonardo M Giron.
Richard Calder rarely makes an appearance at conventions but he is slated to be signing the first three comics in the series at the Cult Publishers Expo in London later this year.

Issue #18 is now available with comics from Richard Calder/Leonardo M Giron, Paul L Mathews/Dylan Williams, Lavie Tidhar/Neil Struthers and Ricky-Marcel Pitcher/Claudio Griglio. Plus nine prose stories and an interview with cover artist Martin Baines.

Full list:-
Dead Girls, Act 2 - Episode 7 Richard Calder [Art: Leonardo M Giron]
Bushmeat Sarah Peploe [Rick Fairlamb]
Bubo Jeremy Ryan [Donna M Evans]
The Dollmaker Anita Siraki [Caroline Parkinson]
Honest Harry's Budget Boneyard Matthew Fryer [Huy Truong]
Hermit Soul Kaolin Imargo Fire [Ankolie]
Securing A Greener Future Ricky-Marcel Pitcher [Claudio Glriglio]
I Don't Remember Paul L Matthews [Dylan Williams]
Technical Problems David Loel [Ed Norton]
Bad Star Clark Nidia [Conor Boyle]
I Dream Of Ants (4) Lavie Tidhar [Neil Struthers]
Kill Screen Chris Lewis Carter [Jason Smith]
Maeve's Moondance Ian Moore [Alex Thompson]

Dead Girls is the cult 1992 début novel by Richard Calder. In 2009 Calder re-wrote the film script (the Japanese-Australian film company had pulled out) for comics and pitched it at Murky Depths, who had already serialised his new comic story, Death and The Maiden, in Issues #1 to #3. With Filipino mangaka Leonardo M Giron on board to bring the words to life Issue #9 featured the first part of the Dead Girls graphic novel with Act 1 completing in Issue #12. If you're a Murky Depths fan you'll know that the internals of this quarterly prose/comics anthology are black and white.
With an extra eleven pages and now in full colour you can buy a limited (numbered) edition in hardback signed by both the author and artist direct from the website for £24.99 (it retails for £58.97). But there's only 100 available and 26 have already been pre-ordered (and will be shipping this week).

Anyone going, or went last year?

Anyone here going, or who went last year?

Good to see some 2000AD forum users at BICS.
Thanks to everyone for the British Fantasy Awards congrats.

[British Fantasy Awards 2010]

British Fantasy Awards 2010

Being excited about Murky Depths being awarded Best Magazine I feel compelled to shout about it everywhere. Sorry if that's boring. It suggests to me that despite the supposed clicky nature of the British Fantasy Society and Fantasycon itself that an (to all intents a purposes) outsider and potential rebel can still be appreciated for what it does well . . .

Murky Depths Issue #1 came out in September 2007. We have some that weren't stored too well and the paper covers have warped very slightly due to excess moisture in the air (since Issue #3 all covers have been gloss laminated on card). Happy to let them go for £4 including postage if anyone is interested. They're currently available in perfect condition for £5.65 including postage, although the full price is £6.99 plus postage from www.murkydepths.com

If you're not familiar with Murky Depths, Mike Carey has said about the magazine: A fantastic mix of prose and comic horror, interviews and articles: nobody else out there is doing anything like this!

Contact terry@murkydepths.com if you're interested.

The House Of Murky Depths has just published the noire supernatural crime story "Shadowraith" by Nicholas Dishington, who's been intereviewed by both local BBC radio and TV, not to mention the area newspaper in Lincoln. He has blended artistic techniques directly with photography to produce something a little different from the norm - something that Murky Depths champions.

Radio: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p005xfhs/The_Morning_Show_15_01_2010/
TV: http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/lincolnshire/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8456000/8456542.stm

If you're a fan of Luke Cooper's work but haven't been buying Murky Depths (and why ever not?!) - he's had a comic story in every issue - you'll be pleased to know that next Easter will see the complete story arc collected in one 96-page edition and featuring a specially written Halo Slipping story that will only appear in A Glimpse Of Hell.
The cover will look something like this:-

If you've been to a convention where Murky Depths has a table you'll be familiar with the image - though the colourway is different.
Of course . . . if you can't wait then you'll be pleased to know that you can purchase the first eight issues of Murky Depths for just £50, and take out a subscription (four issues) for a mere £28.